15 March 2009

Advice Layton Should Take

The Georgia Straight, Vancouver's hip (and Canada's largest) weekly magazine, has a suggestion for Jack Layton: on his visit to the city tomorrow, he should announce his party's intention to campaign against drug prohibition.

Vancouver East NDP Libby Davies has set an example by courageously speaking out against prohibition in the sex trade. She has taken a lot of abuse for doing this. But she knows that in the end, this is what will save lives.

Perhaps some of her NDP colleagues in Parliament (Bill Siksay? Don Davies? Peter Julian?) can stiffen their resolve, and start talking about solutions [to crime and gangland killings] rather than engaging in cheap photo ops designed to pander to the corporate media.

The NDP has nothing to lose. With its current polling numbers, the party will be decimated in the next federal campaign. Taking a stand against drug prohibition could transform the next federal election because Layton would get lots of coverage from antiprohibitionist journalists, including Dan Gardner and Ian Mulgrew, just to name a couple. The media are full of libertarians.

Excellent advice. If the NDP were to make drug prohibition a major plank in its next campaign - and starting now, to draw people's focus to it -, then it may well see people giving it a second look. People, for example, like Daphne and me.

Chrystal Ocean: Social libertarian; democratic reformer; passionate activist for housing reform, especially for changes in property laws to be more inclusive of housing alternatives; atheist; founder of a group run by and for women in poverty, author of several blogs and a book. Contact | Complete profile

Daphne Moldowin: I have chosen a minimalist lifestyle, am a raw food vegan and an anti-capitalist. For me, less means more freedom: to rage against the machine and to speak my mind. I champion others who have small voices. Complete profile